Video shows cops dragging Tyreek Hill out of his car after rolling up his window

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — A police officer dragged Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill out of his sports car by the arm and head and then forced him face down on the ground after Hill rolled up his car window during a traffic stop before Sunday’s game, body camera video released Monday shows.

The video shows that the altercation between Miami-Dade County police officers and Hill quickly escalated. The officers cursed at Hill, but he did not resist their physical force or strike them. He told one officer, “Don’t tell me what to do.” Body camera footage from six officers was released.

Police Commissioner Stephanie Davis said the tape would not normally be released while the investigation is ongoing, but she wanted to demonstrate the department’s “commitment to transparency and maintaining public trust.”

In an interview with CNN later Monday night, the 30-year-old NFL star said he was “embarrassed” and “shocked” by the situation.

A video shows two motorcycle police officers chasing Hill after he appeared to speed past them in his McLaren sports car on the roadway at the entrance to Hard Rock Stadium in light traffic. They later said they clocked him at 60 mph (97 km/h). They turned on their lights and pulled Hill over. One of them knocked on the driver’s window and asked him to roll it down, which Hill did and handed over his driver’s license.

“Don’t knock on my window like that,” Hill repeated to the officer.

“I have to knock to let you know I’m here,” the officer told Hill while repeatedly asking why the player wasn’t wearing his seat belt.

“Just give me my ticket, bro, so I can go. I’m going to be late. Do what you gotta do,” Hill told the officer as he rolled up his tinted window.

“Keep the window down,” the officer told him, tapping on the glass again. Hill could still be seen inside.

Hill rolled down the window slightly and said, “Don’t tell me what to do.” He rolled the window back up.

Hill was issued two citations but was never arrested. (CNN)

Hill told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that he rolled up his window, citing fears of drawing unwanted attention.

“If I roll down my window, people walking by, motorists, they’re going to notice that it’s me,” Hill said. “And they’re going to start taking pictures, and I didn’t want to cause a scene at all. I just wanted to get a ticket and keep going.”

The officer again asked Hill to roll down his window or say, “I’m going to get you out of the car. Actually, get out of the car.”

The officer then asked Hill to open the door. Another officer approached and said, “Get out of the car or I’m going to break this window,” using an obscenity.

The door opened and the second officer grabbed Hill by the arm and the back of the head as the player said, “I’m out.”

Hill later guessed that he was not moving as quickly as officers would have liked.

“I wasn’t moving fast because I had injuries,” said Hill, who is starting his ninth NFL season. “I have things I’m going through. I play a physical sport.”

Hill was issued two citations but was never arrested. (CNN)

The second officer forced Hill to the ground face down. Three officers pulled Hill by his arms behind his back as Hill yelled into his cell phone, “I’m going to be arrested, Drew,” to Dolphins security director Drew Brooks.

The officers handcuffed Hill and one of them kneed him in the back. “If we tell you to do something, do it.”

“Take me to jail, brother, do what you have to do,” Hill replied.

“We are,” one officer said.

“You’re crazy,” Hill told the officer.

The officers picked Hill up and walked him to the curb. One officer asked him to sit on the curb. Hill explained to the officer that he had just had knee surgery.

An officer then jumped behind him and placed a bar around Hill’s chest or neck. He pulled Hill into a sitting position.

“Calm down, brother,” Hill told the officers.

At that point, teammate Jonnu Smith pulled his SUV in front of Hill’s car, got out and asked what was going on. Officers ordered Smith to get back in his vehicle and drive away. They then told him they were going to ticket him for blocking the road.

Defensive tackle Calais Campbell also stopped. He was asked to leave and, when he did not, was briefly handcuffed.

Hill and Campbell were eventually released and allowed to enter the stadium. Hill was issued tickets for reckless driving and not wearing a seat belt, but was never arrested, the video shows. One officer was placed on administrative leave. An internal investigation was launched.

The Dolphins, in a statement released Monday night, said they have a strong relationship with the police department but were “saddened” by the altercation.

“As the videos released tonight clearly demonstrate, some officers are confusing their responsibility and commitment to service with misplaced power,” the team said. “While we commend the MDPD for taking the appropriate and necessary steps to quickly release this footage, we also urge them to take equally swift and strong action against the officers who engaged in such despicable behavior.”

Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, defended the officer’s actions, saying in a statement that Hill was not “immediately cooperative” with officers at the scene, that officers followed policy in handcuffing Hill, who was “redirected to the ground” after he refused to sit down.

Julius B. Collins, Hill’s attorney who appeared alongside him on CNN, said one officer was “the most aggressive,” but another who approached Hill’s car was not aggressive at all. Neither was Hill, Collins added.

“You also saw that he raised his hands to show that he didn’t have a gun. He wasn’t a threat and he was following the orders of the officers. I mean, you know, as far as that statement from the police union, I think the video contradicts everything they’re saying.”

Hill, who is black, said he wonders what would have happened to him if he hadn’t been an NFL star. Some of his teammates, who are also black, said they’re used to seeing that kind of interaction.

“I hate to talk like this, man, because I have a fan base that’s made up of kids,” Hill said. “But the reality, yeah, it’s the truth. If I wasn’t Tyreek Hill, worst case scenario, we would have had a different article: ‘Tyreek Hill was shot outside Hard Rock Stadium.’ That’s the worst case scenario. Or ‘Tyreek Hill handcuffed, arrested and sentenced.’”

This is not the first off-field incident involving Hill.

He was accused of hitting his girlfriend in college and was kicked off the Oklahoma State team. He later pleaded guilty to battery by strangulation. In 2019, prosecutors in suburban Kansas City declined to charge Hill after an alleged domestic violence incident involving his fiancée and their 3-year-old child.

Hill said Monday he wants to turn the recent incident into something positive.

“I’m a good old country boy from South Georgia, man,” Hill said. “I don’t really believe in dividing people.”

___

This story has been updated to correct the conversion to kilometers per hour.

—-

Spencer reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Associated Press writer David Fischer contributed to this report.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl